The National Music Centre (NMC; French: Centre national de musique) is a non-profit museum, performance venue, and recording studio located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The centre's permanent building, branded Studio Bell,[1] is located at 850 4th Street S.E. in Downtown East Village.
| National Music Centre | |
|---|---|
Centre nationale de musique | |
 | |
.jpg) Street entrance | |
 | |
| Alternative names | Studio Bell |
| General information | |
| Status | Completed |
| Type | Music Museum |
| Location | Calgary, Alberta |
| Coordinates | 51°02′43″N 114°03′18″W / 51.0453°N 114.0549°W |
| Construction started | 2013 |
| Completed | 2016 |
| Cost | $191 million |
| Owner | National Music Centre |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 5 |
| Floor area | 160,000 sq ft (15,000 m2) |
| Design and construction | |
| Architecture firm | Allied Works Architecture |
| Services engineer | SMP Engineering |
| Website | |
| nmc | |
History
editBeginnings
editThe National Music Centre and its collections origins can be traced to the installation of a pipe organ (known as the Carthy Organ) in Calgary’s Jack Singer Concert Hall in 1987.[2] The installation of this instrument was the genesis of the International Organ Festival and Competition operated by TriumphEnt from 1990 to 2002.[3] It also subsequently led to the creation of a new organization known as the Chinook Keyboard Centre, which began developing a collection of keyboard instruments in mid-1996.[4][5] Chinook Keyboard Centre was soon renamed Cantos Music Museum and expanded the scope of its collection beyond keyboard instruments to include electronic instruments and sound equipment beginning in the year 2000, it also began to offer limited programming in the way of gallery tours and concerts.
Customs House
editIn 2003, TriumphEnt and Cantos Music Museum joined forces to become the Cantos Music Foundation, located at the historic Customs House building, 134-11th Avenue S.E, and expanded its presentation of music programs using the collection and gallery spaces. In 2005, an exhibition commemorating 100 years of music in Alberta to mark the Centennial led to plans to expand the organization’s scope to chronicle, celebrate, and foster a broader vision for music in Canada. In February 2012, Cantos became the National Music Centre.[6]
As the centre began to outgrow its space, plans for construction of a 60,000 square-foot facility in Calgary’s East Village with a projected cost of $168 million. With a design by Portland architect Brad Cloepfil, construction began on February 22, 2013.[7] The final steel beam was set into place on December 12, 2014.[8] The building eventually cost $191 million.
The National Music Centre held its last public tour at the Customs House on December 28, 2014. After that the location shut down in order to begin the move to the new centre in Calgary’s East Village.[9]
Studio Bell
edit.jpg)
The National Music Centre's Studio Bell opened in 2016 on Canada Day, July 1, 2016, with an estimated 5600 people attending. Jim Cuddy of Blue Rodeo and Great Big Sea's Alan Doyle performed at the official opening.[10]
National Music Centre’s new space showcases the collection, which includes over 2,000 rare instruments and artifacts including the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio, the TONTO synthesizer, and one of Elton John's pianos, along with the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame collections.[11][12] Its interior is clad with 226,000 custom glazed terracotta tiles which were made in Germany and fired in the Netherlands.[13] Bell Canada paid $10 million for naming rights for the centre, for 12 years.[1]
The centre organizes interactive education programming, artist incubation, exhibitions and performances daily, as well as an artist-in-residence program.[14]
Features of the National Music Centre include broadcast facilities of the CKUA Radio Network[15] and a 300-seat performance hall that has already hosted a variety of events, including one of the Tragically Hip’s last concerts. Included as part of the centre is the historic King Edward Hotel, which was dismantled and rebuilt, and operates as a seven nights a week live music venue.[16][17]
The National Music Centre also houses a world-class recording studio, featuring 3 control rooms and 3 live rooms.[18] The organization maintains a "living collection"[19] - musical instruments and equipment submitted as museum pieces which are professionally maintained to be fully operational in a studio environment. This gives artists and engineers recording at the facility the opportunity to use and experiment with a plethora of historical equipment, ranging from a 400-year-old harpsicord to TONTO, the first (and largest) multitimbral polyphonic analog synthesizer ever created.[18]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b Bain, Jennifer (8 September 2016). "7 reasons to love Canada's new National Music Centre". Toronto Star. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
- ^ "Jack Singer Concert Hall". Royal Canadian College of Organists, Calgary Centre. Archived from the original on December 16, 2014.
- ^ Norman, Barbara. "Calgary International Organ Festival". Encyclopedia of Music in Canada. Retrieved September 4, 2019.
- ^ "Better Days: The Rebirth of Calgary's Legendary King Edward Hotel". Alberta Culture and Tourism. July 22, 2018. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
- ^ Cruz, Josephine (April 13, 2014). "Canada's unknown historic music vault is in the coolest museum ever". Noisey. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
- ^ "Visit | Studio Bell". Nmc.ca. Retrieved 2016-09-15.
- ^ "Infrastructure Canada - National Music Centre breaks ground in Calgary". Infrastructure.gc.ca. 2013-02-22. Retrieved 2016-09-15.
- ^ "Building toward a delightful crescendo at the National Music Centre in Calgary". The Globe and Mail. 2014-12-11. Retrieved 2016-09-15.
- ^ "National Music Centre to close its current space as it prepares to move to its new building in 2016". Nmc.ca. Retrieved 2016-09-15.
- ^ "Jim Cuddy talks about his love of Alberta, Blue Rodeo's next album and the 'magnificent' Gord Downie". Mike Bell, Calgary Herald July 8, 2016
- ^ "Can the National Music Centre survive in Calgary?". MacLeans, Jason Markusoff, September 1, 2016
- ^ "Calgary's National Music Centre begins to take shape in revitalized East Village". Calgarysun.com. Retrieved 2016-09-15.
- ^ "Music of the Spheres". Graham Livesey, Canadian Architect.
- ^ "Séan McCann talks music and mental health at Calgary’s National Music Centre". Aaron Chatha, Metro, January 24, 2017
- ^ "Calgary Foundation CKUA Studio - CKUA Radio Network". Ckua.com. 29 June 2016. Retrieved 2016-09-15.
- ^ "King Eddy hotel dismantled, pieces stored meticulously - Calgary - CBC News". Cbc.ca. 2013-12-13. Retrieved 2016-09-15.
- ^ "Last chance to buy a historic brick in Calgary's King Eddy". Metro News, Aaron Chatha. Feb 05 2017.
- ^ a b "Our Recording Studios | Studio Bell". English. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
- ^ "Living Collection | Studio Bell". English. Retrieved 2024-06-11.